Is the source important?

I saw a friend posting a link to an article on facebook about the 911 memorial in New York and the motto that has been chosen. If the motto is good or not is of course subjective. What is also to some degree subjective is what the motto means. We can compare that with the motto above the entrance to the auditorium of Uppsala University “Att tänka fritt är stort, att tänka rätt är större” (To think free is great, but to think right is greater). Over the centuries people have had many different ideas about the meaning of those words. Some hate them and some love them, but usually they just disagree about what the meaning is.
What is less subjective is where the motto is from and what it was originally about. But does that really matter?
The motto at the 911 memorial is: “No day shall erase you from the memory of time.” - Virgil.
That is actually quite impressive, a quote by Virgil, it is from the Aeneid and concern events in book 9. It would never work in Sweden were people have hardly no classical education at all. But perhaps the only reason it might work in the US is that people lack a classical education there as well. (You might notice that the quote is not in the original Latin.)

A key-chain that will be sold at the museum bears the inscription.
Credit Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times

The sentence is about two Trojan soldiers and lovers, and I guess that some would object to their relationship. But perhaps more importantly is that in the Aeneid they are killed after something similar to a suicide mission where they attacked the Greek army killing soldiers in their sleep.
It does seem a bit wrong if you want to remember the civilians that died at World Trade Centre. It works much better at the Valiants Memorial in Canada, which commemorate soldiers and where the quote is also used (but in Latin).
But is the source important? It is true that the person that know about the story behind the quote might find it objectionable. Celebrating young men who willingly embrace death after killing people in their sleep might not be the best quote for a 911 memorial. (To my Canadian friends I can reassure you that there are a bit more to the story so it is not as strange on a military memorial.)
To be honest though, how many are aware of who the “you” are in “No day shall erase you from the memory of time.”? Most people have never heard about Virgil, and If you heard of Virgil (before reading this) it is not likely you read anything of him. Though if you have read something by Virgil it is likely to be the Aeneid.
Now is it actually important what a few academics think about a motto?
If not what is the use of academics? The reason that we have a society where people can be experts in something like old Latin poetry is because these academics are societies bank of knowledge. Scientists are frequently asked to contribute their knowledge, now when people who study the classics are finally in a position where they can contribute why not listen to them?